Will running a homemade wind turbine without a load hurt it?

I’m in the process of building my first wind turbine and was curious if running it without a load (ie. battery bank) would be harmful to the generators? I’m using a 260VDC 5A permanent magnet treadmill motor as the generator. I’m about ready to put up my tower and wasn’t sure if I can go ahead and get it all assembled and put up and then add the battery bank as soon as I can get the batteries. This way I could also see how well it’s going to perform on the tower. It’s a 60′ lattice tower and will be hinged at the bottom but still will be a bit of a pain to lower and raise a lot. I’m really excited about getting this up and running but don’t want to damage anything before I even get started.

Also I’ve heard of people using old electric baseboard heaters as a load dump when the bank gets fully charged. I’m having some trouble locating any of these around here and was wondering if anyone would have any other suggestions on something I could use as a dump? Thanks for all your time.

How do Wind Turbines convert wind into energy?

I am doing a project for school (its not for a class but its for a teacher me and my friends hang with at lunch) and it has to do with renewable energy. and I need to know how wind turbines convert wind into usable energy.

also if you can tell me how they convert the tides’ and suns’ natural energy into energy used for everyday appliances like lightbulbs and machines.

thanks in advance!
thanks for all the great answers!!!

I think this is the most amount of answers I have ever gotten when I’ve asked a question.

Can i raise a family on 45-50k?

im 20. wind turbine technician. make about 42k a year. thinking about joining the army nat guard as a infantryman to bring some more money in. i want to put my gf through school so she can be a vet tech. if we decide to have a kid i want to know if i can support them on this salary.

Whats a better job, wind power technician or solar? more pay etc?

I was thinking about getting a certificate in renewable energy. . I was wondering if I should focus on wind or solar. Which one has a better future and pays more? Also is installing/maintaining a wind turbine harder to learn then solar? maybe I can learn both but focus on the harder of the two for my classes and learn the other one on my own. If anyone has some insight or has done these things id like to know what they think